All that stands between 5263 Dirona
and the horizon are four docklines

By Jeff Merrill
photos courtesy of James and Jennifer Hamilton

James and Jennifer Hamilton have now taken possession of their new Nordhavn 52 and have made the transition from their old Dirona to the new Dirona.

After owning one boat for ten years and waiting two years to build the other, you can imagine that this is a pretty sweet time of life, but there is also some sweat involved as a storage room-load of boxes filled with gear and possessions had to first be transferred between the two boats. A recent Dirona blog post shows many illustrative photos including a dock filled with boxes, both boats filled with boxes and the old Dirona coming up several inches on her waterline.

For the first time the 52 is looking proper and even though there are some commissioning details still to complete I was thrilled to see photos of the stack up, the tender on deck and Dirona looking ready for adventure.

After reading the blog, I emailed James and Jennifer to see if they could send a couple of photos to post on our website. Take a look for yourself. Isn’t she a beauty?

I’m going to head up to join the Hamiltons for training in a few weeks - once they get things settled and we can carve out the time to go through a thorough systems review. At that point I’ll be able to get some good interior photos to show off many of the innovative upgrades that James and Jennifer have incorporated.

I like to advise my clients that with each new boat there is usually a surprise. Especially as every boat is built to order and more and more special requests/customizations come in to play. Just last week we got one of those surprises on the 52 project and it was really good news. With the new style fiberglass fuel tanks another calculation was made and it has now been determined that the fuel capacity is 1,860 gallons - 190 more than originally promoted. The added capacity extends the range and will benefit all 52s that set off for far reaching adventures.

As Nordhavn ambassadors, you will not meet two finer people. James and Jennifer are enthusiastic, personable and “addicted to adventure” . In fact one special request for 5263 was the inclusion of a John Deere 6068AFM 75 main engine (a new model upon which James did exhaustive research prior to picking). Our good friends at Deere did a profile about James and Jennifer (appropriately titled “Addicted to adventure”) in their Vol. 1, 2010 Marine Power Source publication that is a fun and informative read. Download the story here.

The Hamiltons are busy getting everything shipshape while living aboard Dirona – no easy task, but they are taking on this chore with the right perspective: “As the boat emerges from the unpacking, it's looking wonderful. Even as a work in progress, we're loving being aboard. From a comfort perspective it compares well with our past houses, if a bit smaller, but this one can go anywhere in the world.”

The Nordhavn 52 project is really making headway, coinciding perfectly with this delivery. Two other hulls in construction follow at the yard, some new interior layouts have been created by Jeff Leishman and it looks like we are about ready to sign several new build contracts in the coming weeks!

In closing this report I want to pass on one particularly inspiring comment from the Dirona blog that sums up how a lot of us seafaring adventurers have felt at one time or another: “We are now down to one boat and no storage room. Only four dock lines and two jobs tie us to Seattle.” Just replace the last word with the name of your hometown. Sound familiar?

Jeff Merrill is a salesman for Nordhavn based in California. He has worked with James and Jennifer Hamilton for the past five years to see their dream come true. For more detail on their Nordhavn, Dirona, contact Jeff by e-mail at jeff.merrill@nordhavn.com. You can also follow him on Twitter merrilljeff.